My experiences post total pancreatectomy.

Is it me??

by n1iwr on June 16, 2014

I recently developed a relatively new pet peeve and I’m wondering what other PWD think about this…

Last week I was casually chatting with a friend about how I’d had a very low blood sugar that morning (31mg/dl) that was unexpected and I was still kind of in a light fog because of it. He asked me what it felt like. He seemed concerned about this hypoglycemic event and he is a healthcare worker, so I thought I would do a little “inservice” (the medical community uses the “inservice” to educate our peers on new equipment, meds, etc). I gave him a short list of what it could feel like to anyone and as I was explaining that each PWD has her/his own set of symptoms, he suddenly cut my “inservice” short, exclaiming, “that’s what happened to me this morning!”

OK. I didn’t know he had difficulty with his blood sugars regulating on their own, by way of his normal, completely functioning islet cells but maybe I didn’t know something about his current health situation. When I asked him what his symptoms were, he told me, “I got a bad headache when I skipped breakfast.” I inquired further and, no, nothing was wrong with his normal functioning islet cells. Maybe you were just hungry? He quickly replied, “No, I wasn’t hungry! I had a low blood sugar just like you described!” I asked him what he did to correct it and he calmly stated, “Oh, I just popped a couple of Advil and went about my day. But, boy, was I starving at lunch.” WHAT??!!

I calmed my racing, shocked pulse down and just decided to move the conversation along because I got the feeling this friend had no clue what a true hypoglycemic incident is about. I changed the subject and we got to the business of catching up. I decided the “inservice” would have been lost on this person anyway.

This is a first for me on this Type 1 journey. My inner circle of family and friends has been very supportive and frequently asks questions so they can better understand what’s going on with me, like I do with them when something’s going on with them that I don’t understand. It’s a normal give and take amongst friends & family. But this person is just outside of my inner circle, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when he really wasn’t concerned about me at all, just his headache’s cause (even though it was pretty obvious the missed meal was most likely the cause. But, in his defense, maybe his blood sugar was at the lower end of his normal glucose range.)

I’m still wondering why I was so amped up by his response. It seems to me that many PWD fear the low!!! And just “popping a few Advil” wouldn’t correct a true low blood sugar. Maybe I’ve been in a little bubble where it’s been all about me as I navigate this new world?(I’m definitely learning it’s NOT all about me) I don’t know but I’m thinking that my fear of a low and this person’s delight in figuring out what caused his headache, shocked me.

When we were preparing to part ways, I mentioned to him that he should start carrying immediate glucose foods with him to combat the lows he might experience in the future.

How do you respond when someone seems uneducated on what you’re experiencing due to diabetes and compares it to something in her/his nondiabetic life?

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2 responses to “Is it me??”

I’ve actually started using that “I feel like that idea” in my diabetes explanations. I ask them if they remember how they feel when they haven’t eaten in while and how they might get shaky or whatever and tell them that my body doesn’t help correct that very well so I just get lower and lower.

Sara, that’s a perfect way to bring it up!! Thanks!! I’m gonna have to borrow that line from you if that’s ok?! Great way to break the ice in a nonjudgemental way and follow it up w a little “inservice”!!! Lol!! Thanks for taking the time to comment!!!